Prologs Lists, Negation and Imperative Control Flow

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Prologs Lists, Negation and Imperative Control
Flow
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• COMP 144 Programming Language Concepts
• Spring 2003

Stotts, Hernandez-Campos
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Lists

• Constructors
• Empty list constant
• . Constructor functor
• Example
• .(a, .(b, .(c, )))
• a, b, c (syntactic sugar)
• Tail notation
• a b, c
• a, b c

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ListsExamples
No notion of input or output parameters
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Tic-Tac-Toe Example

• 3x3 grid
• Two Players
• X (computer)
• O (human)
• Fact x(n)indicates a movement by X
• E.g. x(5), x(9)
• Fact o(n) indicates a movement by O
• E.g. o(1), o(6)

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Tic-Tac-Toe Example

• Winning condition

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Tic-Tac-Toe Example
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Tic-Tac-Toe Example
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Imperative Control FlowThe cut

• Prolog has a number of explicit control flow
  features
• ! Known as the cut
• This is a zero-argument predicate that always
  succeeds
• It commits the interpreter to the unification
  made between the parent goal and the left-hand
  side of the current rules
• Example
• member(X, XT).
• member(X, HT) - member(X, T).
• member(X, XT) - !.
• member(X, HT) - member(X, T).

member may succeed n times
member may succeed at most one time
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Imperative Control Flow

• Cut causes the unification stack to be frozen

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Cut and the stack
Cut !

• New stack base for backtracking

(c)
K 147
Z blue
(b)
Y tandoori
rochester
P
(a)
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Imperative Control Flow

• Alternative
• member(X, XT).
• member(X, HT) - not(XH), member(X, T).
• How does not work?
• not(P) - call(P), !, fail.
• not(P).
• call attempts to satisfy the goal P.
• fail always fails.

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Prolog Database Manipulation

• Two built-in predicates can be used to modify the
  database of known facts
• assert(P) adds a new fact.
• E.g. assert(parent(kevin, john))
• retract(P) removes a known fact.
• E.g. retract(parent(kevin, john))

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Backward Chaining in Prolog

• Backward chaining follows a classic depth-first
  backtracking algorithm
• Example
• Goal
• Snowy(C)

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Infinite Regression
Goal
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Reading Assignment

• Read
• Rest of Scott Sect. 11.3.1
• Guide to Prolog Example, Roman Barták
• Go through all the examples
• http//ktiml.mff.cuni.cz/bartak/prolog/learning.h
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